Paulette Chavers, incumbent Statesboro City Council member in District 2, says almost everything she campaigned on in 2019 has been done but that there is more to do, especially to improve public safety and mitigate an expected increase in homelessness.

Chavers, seeking a second four-year term, faces a challenger, Lawton Sack, in a race that will conclude with Nov. 7 as Election Day but for which early voting is now underway. Only Statesboro council District 2’s registered voters take part in this choice, and none of the city’s other four districts will participate in this election.

“Well, I want another four years because there’s a lot more work that needs to be done,” Chavers said in an interview. “First off is the safety of the city of Statesboro. We need to put in place pay raises for the Police Department so that we can get qualified policemen here to safeguard our city.”

In recent weeks the Statesboro Police Department has acknowledged 17 officer vacancies, a shortfall of more than 20% in its city-authorized force. Chief of Police Mike Broadhead and City Manager Charles Penny presented a plan last week to boost the basic starting salary for officers above $50,000 in January. That proposal awaits consultants’ partial completion of a compensation study, but the council last week approved larger signing bonuses for newly hired officers.

Seeing that these and potentially other steps result in hiring and retention of more officers would be a “primary purpose” of her second term, Chavers said.

Growth and homelessness

Another priority for her would be to help the city “get ahead of what’s to come” with the influx of new residents as Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle manufacturing complex nears completion in Bryan County and some of its suppliers and other industries build several plants in Bulloch County.

Private developers now have almost 2,000 housing units planned within Statesboro, as seen in recent planning and zoning hearings. But with little of the construction started and prices soaring, some community leaders have expressed concern that low-income residents will be displaced.

“With the Hyundai plant and all of these other plants that are being placed in Bulloch County, we can expect some type of homelessness, and I want to get ahead of that, because I don’t want our streets to look like the streets of California where you have homeless people just everywhere,” Chavers said.

So public safety and making sure that Statesboro is prepared to limit and deal with an increase in homelessness are the two main things she wants to focus on, she said. 

“But I also want to continue the progress that we’ve made with infrastructure, like making sure that we have adequate sidewalks so that individuals can feel safe walking down the streets, making sure that we have proper sewers and water for all of our individuals,” Chaver said.

Community revitalization would also remain a priority, she said. The city government has launched a housing revitalization program and also a drive to extend city sewer lines in some areas within Statesboro that do not have them, both using COVID pandemic-era federal funds.

Chavers said she listens to constituents. This has included receiving phone calls from residents who do not feel safe, such as when there has been nighttime gunfire on streets in District 2, adding urgency to her call for more police officers.

“That’s what I’m here for, and I’m also here because I not only want to just listen, but I want to act when it comes down to the concerns of the citizens here in Statesboro,” she said.

Touts things done

“And why I feel that I’m qualified to do this is because, you know, I’ve done the work,” Chavers said. “Everything that I campaigned for in 2019, it has taken place — not going to take place, it has actually happened.

“We wanted a transit system; we got a transit system,” she said. “We wanted the parks fixed up; we got parks fixed up. We wanted infrastructure and the streets. …”

Street and infrastructure work is ongoing, she acknowledged.

“But it has been done. You wanted more jobs; you got more jobs,” she said.  “You wanted more youth resources; you have more youth resources. I didn’t even campaign on a community garden, but we have a community garden.”

Although the garden was not part of Chavers’ original platform and other community members proposed it, she took the lead among the city’s elected officials in advocating for it, and it was placed in District 2.

She said she would like to have other community gardens created across Statesboro because they help individuals feel they are part of their neighborhood.

Biographical notes

Chavers, now 42, grew up in Bulloch County on the outskirts of Statesboro and moved into the city limits when she started college more than 20 years ago.

She received her bachelor’s degree in child and family development in 2003 and her master’s in school counseling in 2006, both from Georgia Southern. She continued her studies to become a licensed family counselor and also attained certification as a master addiction counselor and a national certified counselor.

Founder and owner of Refocus Counseling and Consulting, Chavers also partners with Road to Success Inc., a counseling firm based in Mount Vernon.

She is very involved at her church, Agape Worship Center, where she sings in the choir, and also serves on Queensborough National Bank’s community planning board.

A candidate profile of Lawton Sack will appear in the Oct. 25 e-Edition, and both profiles will be printed in the Thursday, Oct. 26, print edition.